Miley Cyrus: Dad Responds to ‘Wrecking Ball’ Video

Miley Cyrus’ new video for “Wrecking Ball” is certainly going to surpass her VMA performance in terms of its controversy. She not only lounges around in her underwear, but actually strips down this time, in order to straddle a giant wrecking ball. We shouldn’t have expected any less when an exploitation master like Terry Richardson stepped in as the video’s director. Her father Billy Ray, however, has his own thoughts about it.

In keeping with his typical comments as of late, Billy Ray has called it a shining example of his daughter’s “sheer God given talent.” Is removing one’s clothes an important part of that talent? He didn’t exactly say. Brushing the whole video aside, Billy Ray instead told Entertainment Tonight that “It wouldn’t have mattered if Miley would have worn jeans and a flannel shirt … a Tux … or a nun’s habit. The song’s a smash.” Miley herself has defended the “Wrecking Ball” video as one in which “you can tell that I actually look more broken than even the song sounds.” Maybe her dad’s right, and she really could’ve done all this in jeans and a shirt, then – it’s about the brokenness and the song, after all. Instead, she seems to look more stark naked than the song suggests she needs to be.

Ironically, Miley’s still trying to convince us all that it’s merely about the art, and not at all about her trying her damnedest to leave behind the stigma of being an innocent, former Disney child.